Brooklyn pizzeria parodies laundry pod trend with new pizza

Jan. 19, 2018

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City pizzeria is rolling out a specialty pizza dish created in response to the dangerous internet trend of people eating laundry detergent pods.

The "Tide Pods challenge" is an internet trend showing people putting small laundry detergent pods in their mouths and posting videos eating them, often resulting in hospitalizations. Brooklyn's Vinnie's Pizzeria is offering a safer alternative with the pizzeria's new "Pied Pods."

The Pied Pods are rolls stuffed with cheese and pepperoni and topped with dyed cheese made to look like a detergent pod.

The pizzeria said the Pied Pods have the "bright, alluring colors that youths crave," but are not poison.

Proctor and Gamble, which owns Tide, recently launched a campaign to warn people away from eating detergent pods.